Latest / The Rita Panahi Show / The Rita Panahi Show | 27 October

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The Rita Panahi Show | 27 October · The Rita Panahi Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Starting right now, The Rita Panahy Show.
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  Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Rita Panahy Show. I'm
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  Speaker 2: James Morrow, filling in for Rita, and here's what's coming
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  Speaker 2: up tonight. Aussies are struggling to put food on the
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  Speaker 2: table while Anthony Albanese pumps up the public sector with
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  Speaker 2: fat cat bureaucrats on hefty pay packets. Meanwhile, in the
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  Speaker 2: United States, Kathy Hochul from New York, well, guess what?
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  Speaker 2: She's taking the crown for the worst governor in the
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  Speaker 2: United States.
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  Speaker 3: Congratulations, Cathy. Here's your crown.
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  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, as Meghan Markle settles into her new home in England,
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  Speaker 2: has she landed herself a new job in Australia?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, dear.
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  Speaker 2: Deedee Dunleavy will tell us what that's all about. And
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  Speaker 2: not forgetting lefties losing it, let's hear from some of
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  Speaker 2: the geniuses at the University of Michigan on their definition
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  Speaker 2: of socialism.
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  Speaker 4: Socialism doesn't mean, like, anti-capitalism. Based off what I learned
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  Speaker 4: in my gov class, it's basically like spending more money
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  Speaker 4: on helping society.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all just like helping society. Anyway, first, John Howard, though.
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  Speaker 2: Let's go back to him. Former Prime Minister John Howard
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  Speaker 2: has attacked the Albanese government for Australia's bloated public sector.
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  Speaker 2: He has warned that the sector is strangling productivity, with
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  Speaker 2: bureaucrats now earning more and enjoying better conditions than those
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  Speaker 2: in the private sector. Public sector staff earn about 11%
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  Speaker 2: more than their counterparts in the private sector, according to
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  Speaker 2: ABS data. And public sector wage growth has also outstripped
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  Speaker 2: that in the private sector for the past six quarters.
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  Speaker 2: They're getting pay rises of 3.4%, compared to everybody else
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  Speaker 2: who's getting an average of 3.1%. Now, the former prime minister,
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  Speaker 2: John Howard, said the government had failed to provide incentives
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  Speaker 2: for the private sector. Ain't that the truth? And warned
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  Speaker 2: public service growth needed to be reined in. Joining me
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  Speaker 2: now to talk about this is deputy leader of One
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  Speaker 2: Nation in Victoria, Colleen Harkin. and Herald Sun senior reporter
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  Speaker 2: Seb Costello. Colleen, I'll start with you here. This whole
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  Speaker 2: idea of the public service just being out of control,
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  Speaker 2: I think we all know about that. We call it
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  Speaker 2: the lanyard class at The Daily Telegraph. But what needs
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  Speaker 2: to be done to cut all of these bloated departments
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  Speaker 2: and particularly all of the bureaucrats whose entire job exists
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  Speaker 2: to make life more difficult for ordinary law-abiding citizens and
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  Speaker 2: business owners?
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  Speaker 5: Well, when you've got about 2.6 million people employed by
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  Speaker 5: the government in bureaucracy, that's about one in every five
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  Speaker 5: or six working Australians is employed basically to manage regulation, paperwork, compliance,
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  Speaker 5: you know, and squashing productivity. Government doesn't create jobs. It
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  Speaker 5: doesn't create innovation. It doesn't build anything. It's literally passing
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  Speaker 5: paper around from one person to the next. And then
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  Speaker 5: why we've got a problem with our productivity. So, you know,
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  Speaker 5: we need frontline workers in place. Whatever money's been spent
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  Speaker 5: on government employment needs to be in frontline workers, not
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  Speaker 5: in enhancing and increasing regulation and red tape.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, Seb, it seems to me that in
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  Speaker 2: Canberra there's an awful lot of that you could just
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  Speaker 2: simply cut. No-one would even know whether or not they existed.
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  Speaker 2: I noted that a number of business leaders have been
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  Speaker 2: quoted telling Treasurer Jim Chalmers exactly what they think should
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  Speaker 2: be cut when he challenged them to cut. It seems
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  Speaker 2: like this should be a very easy walk-up start for
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  Speaker 2: any government with a true reformist agenda.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, people have got ideas. Unfortunately, the Treasury isn't
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  Speaker 6: listening to them. I'm glad former Prime Minister Howard has
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  Speaker 6: put this on the table because here in Victoria, we've
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  Speaker 6: known for a long time that public servants are being
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  Speaker 6: paid too much. People on public infrastructure projects are being
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  Speaker 6: paid too much. This is the state where lollipop ladies
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  Speaker 6: can earn $ 200, 000 a year on Dan Andrews' big bills. So,
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  Speaker 6: you know, this isn't a new thing for Victoria. But,
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  Speaker 6: you know, the old rules have been completely flipped. It
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  Speaker 6: used to be that you had less job security but
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  Speaker 6: more money in the private sector. and that you had
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  Speaker 6: more job security and less money in the public sector.
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  Speaker 6: It's now you get more money and more job security
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  Speaker 6: in the public sector, and that's not, you know, how
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  Speaker 6: it should work.
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  Speaker 3: I'll say this, though, James.
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  Speaker 6: I do know that I am a true capitalist because,
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  Speaker 6: as I heard you talking about the lanyard classes, I
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  Speaker 6: thought to myself... I wish I'd invested in lanyards about
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  Speaker 6: 30 years ago.
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  Speaker 3: I would have made a pile.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, all the ones with the rainbow lanyards
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  Speaker 2: and all of that, you saw the amount of Senate
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  Speaker 2: estimates today. It's quite extraordinary, isn't it? Hey, I want
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  Speaker 2: to talk about also, let's stick with Victoria for a second.
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  Speaker 2: I was really impressed by a piece that Jess Wilson,
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  Speaker 2: who is the likely next Premier and a liberal at that,
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  Speaker 2: of Victoria. She's put a brilliant piece in The Australian
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  Speaker 2: saying that telling the hard truth and honoring promises is
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  Speaker 2: more important to rebuild trust in democracy than trying to
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  Speaker 2: soften debate. Colleen, I thought this was really important because
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  Speaker 2: you've got Anthony Albanese out there saying, oh, well, the
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  Speaker 2: real problem right now is social media and people saying
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  Speaker 2: mean things. But it just occurs to me that if
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  Speaker 2: you just did your job, maybe people wouldn't be so
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  Speaker 2: angry at the government.
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  Speaker 7: Well, that is true.
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  Speaker 5: And when we look at things like the digital duty
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  Speaker 5: of care and the attempt to shut down conversation and
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  Speaker 5: free speech is extremely worrying.
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  Speaker 7: But the idea of, you.
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  Speaker 5: Know, not opening up for conversation on Jess's sort of
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  Speaker 5: saying she won't do a public debate with the leader
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  Speaker 5: of One Nation and Labor, and it is part of
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  Speaker 5: the conversation to say, if you're talking about, you know,
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  Speaker 5: entrusting people with the truth and how hard things are,
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  Speaker 5: you also have to give that trust back and allow
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  Speaker 5: them to ask you the hard questions. So, you know,
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  Speaker 5: you can't sort of say one thing and then actually
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  Speaker 5: do something else. So, you know, again, One Nation will
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  Speaker 5: be calling on Jess to attend a public debate where
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  Speaker 5: people can ask the questions politely and constructively and answer
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  Speaker 5: the call.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, no, look, I think that's a pretty fair point, Colleen.
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  Speaker 2: I would love to watch that debate, and I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: we would probably bring it to you here on News 24. But, Seb,
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  Speaker 2: let's talk a bit more about this, though, because there
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  Speaker 2: is this broader point here that, you know, let's take,
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  Speaker 2: for example, the issue of immigration. People have been calling
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  Speaker 2: for it to be cut for ages, and yet governments
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  Speaker 2: of both stripes do anything, is it any wonder that
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  Speaker 2: people wind up moving further and further out on these things?
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  Speaker 2: If you look at Denmark, for example, a center-left government
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  Speaker 2: cut immigration, and they don't have any of the so-called
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  Speaker 2: far-right parties that they have in the rest of Europe
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  Speaker 2: because of this.
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  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 6: I think the Prime Minister's deflection in the wake of
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  Speaker 6: the terrible tragedy that injured Helen Haynes permanently has been absurd, frankly.
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  Speaker 6: He's been talking about the internet and social media and
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  Speaker 6: influencers as if there was any hard evidence that that
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  Speaker 6: was the motivation for the attack. There isn't any evidence
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  Speaker 6: that that was the motivation for the attack. This guy
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  Speaker 6: wasn't sort of radicalised by a certain element of social media.
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  Speaker 6: The courts will decide exactly what happened in that case. But,
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  Speaker 6: you know, he was on social media like just about
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  Speaker 6: every other Australian. But, you know, I would have thought
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  Speaker 6: either that was a case where there are more personal
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  Speaker 6: issues at play or even some of the involvement he
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  Speaker 6: had in you know, various environmental groups was more likely
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  Speaker 6: to get to the heart of what that person was about.
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  Speaker 6: So for the Prime Minister to make this all about
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  Speaker 6: social media because he's upset at the way he gets
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  Speaker 6: covered at social media, I think was very opportunistic and
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  Speaker 6: just the wrong place to be swimming.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, look, I agree.
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  Speaker 2: And obviously we'll wait to see what the courts say
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  Speaker 2: about the accused. But I think there's also a big
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  Speaker 2: discussion about mental health and what we've done in this
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  Speaker 2: country around institutions that also needs to be had. But
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  Speaker 2: that might be for another evening. In the meantime, the
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  Speaker 2: University of Sydney here in Sydney, they have recruited that
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  Speaker 2: great stateswoman, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, for
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  Speaker 2: an academic role in the institution's School of Public Health.
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  Speaker 2: She's going to deliver guest lectures and bring, I can't
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  Speaker 2: even believe this, empathetic leadership.
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  Speaker 3: To campus. She's already on the northern beaches here. But, Kali,
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  Speaker 3: I'll start with you here. I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I just think about what New Zealand did during COVID,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm not sure I want anybody who was involved
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  Speaker 2: with that government talking to me about public health or,
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  Speaker 2: for that matter, empathetic leadership.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, look, Jacinda Ardern seems to have created an international
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  Speaker 5: brand for herself based on empathy. But the outfall of
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  Speaker 5: what she left New Zealand in was, you know, three
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  Speaker 5: times GDP debt, interest rates of 7.3% or something like that.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, the New Zealand people are living with the
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  Speaker 5: consequences of her decisions, which are not pretty, and she
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  Speaker 5: has this sort of brand thing about being a kind
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  Speaker 5: and caring person, but New Zealanders aren't being left with
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  Speaker 5: some kind and caringness. I also want to know who's paying.
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  Speaker 7: For this role that she's doing.
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  Speaker 8: I hope it's not us. I hope it's not the
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  Speaker 8: taxpayer who's paying for this.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm probably going to have to disappoint you because
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  Speaker 2: I suspect, we'll have to check, but I suspect it
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  Speaker 2: probably is. Hey, Seb, though, you know, New Zealand was
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  Speaker 2: basically like sort of just a bigger version of Victoria
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  Speaker 2: in some ways during COVID. Like, why is it, though,
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  Speaker 2: that universities think that this is a feather in their
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  Speaker 2: cap to bring people in who, You know, this woman
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  Speaker 2: didn't achieve anything. She missed her housing targets. She didn't
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  Speaker 2: end child poverty like she promised. She was run out
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  Speaker 2: of town on a rail and she had to move
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  Speaker 2: to Sydney because people in New Zealand are so hostile
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  Speaker 2: to her. How does our academic class think this is
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  Speaker 2: a win?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, you've just said it. That was exactly my
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  Speaker 6: take when I read this. Why can't Jacinda Ardern get
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  Speaker 6: a job in New Zealand? Why does she have to
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  Speaker 6: come to Sydney? I think that tells you all you
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  Speaker 6: need to know about how the electorate feels about her
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  Speaker 6: time in charge. Colleen touched on that.
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  Speaker 7: Colleen, what was the position?
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  Speaker 6: She was a professor of practice.
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  Speaker 5: Professor of practice, whatever that means.
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  Speaker 9: Have you ever heard of that, James?
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  Speaker 6: What is the practice department?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't know. Maybe it's practice makes perfect. I
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  Speaker 3: don't know, guys.
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  Speaker 9: Well, she could use a lot of practice then.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: No, but I mean, look, I can tell you what,
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  Speaker 2: in New Zealand, my New Zealand mates, they're very glad
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: to see the back of her. But again, I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what she's going to do. Maybe she can go
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  Speaker 2: around the Palestine encampments on campus and Teach them to
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  Speaker 2: be more empathetic when they chant from the river to
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  Speaker 2: the sea. But anyway, let's move on because there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of other things to talk about here. A confidential
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  Speaker 2: government briefing has warned that, oh, gosh, unexpectedly, who saw
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  Speaker 2: this coming? Victoria faces higher energy bills and power outages
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  Speaker 2: unless tens of billions more. are invested in new infrastructure.
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  Speaker 2: The document was leaked to the Herald Sun and warned
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  Speaker 2: that $ 85 billion is needed to deliver... $ 65 billion is
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  Speaker 2: needed to deliver the energy supply Victoria requires by 2035. Seb,
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  Speaker 2: tell us about this.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I'm shocked, James.
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  Speaker 3: Here am I.
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  Speaker 6: I've been told for years that clean energy was going
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: to be cheaper. And I believed the government when they
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  Speaker 6: told me this. Now it looks like that was a
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  Speaker 6: stupid thing to do. And anybody who does believe that, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 6: the facts just don't lie. The procedures, the policies that
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  Speaker 6: the Victorian government and others have been embarking on has
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  Speaker 6: not been bringing power bills down. They've been going the
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  Speaker 6: other way. And Victorian bills just keep getting.
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  Speaker 3: Higher and higher and higher.
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  Speaker 7: I do want to say this, though, James.
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  Speaker 3: There is.
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  Speaker 6: The winds of change blowing in Victoria in a lot
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  Speaker 6: of significant ways. I am definitely noticing that more people
• 11:32
  Speaker 6: are now awake to see these situations beyond the spin.
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  Speaker 6: People are now looking at their bills and going, OK,
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  Speaker 6: this lie I've been told that cleaner energy was going
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  Speaker 6: to be cheaper is just that, a lie. And there
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  Speaker 6: is a more emboldened atmosphere of people willing to speak
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  Speaker 6: out about the way this state has been run for
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  Speaker 6: the worse, which wasn't the case maybe five years ago,
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  Speaker 6: ten years ago. Something is stirring down here in Victoria.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, you'll love to hear it, Seb, because it's
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  Speaker 2: not a moment too soon. But, Colleen, tell us about
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  Speaker 2: this with the energy situation, because Victoria, if I understand,
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  Speaker 2: has constitutional prohibitions against, you know, getting energy out of
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  Speaker 2: the ground. Tell us about that, and would One Nation
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: be able to change that?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, it does require constitutional change and it was done
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  Speaker 5: basically in the dark of night a few years ago.
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  Speaker 5: One Nation would definitely remove that legislation. You know, One
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  Speaker 5: Nation supports coal, gas, in due course nuclear. Victorians are
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: sitting on Australia and Victorians especially are sitting on a
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  Speaker 5: wealth of minerals and we should use them to our advantage.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: A few years ago when people did surveys, climate change
• 12:40
  Speaker 5: was up high on the list of the agenda and
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  Speaker 5: now it is almost nowhere to be seen. The cost
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: of living and the cost of doing business are the
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  Speaker 5: highest priorities for people. People want affordable and reliable energy.
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  Speaker 5: And the outrageous component of this is that we used
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  Speaker 5: to be the most, you know, liveable city in the world.
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  Speaker 5: We used to have the cheapest energy in the world.
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  Speaker 5: We used to have one of the highest standards of living.
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  Speaker 8: In the world. And this is all self-inflicted pain.
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  Speaker 10: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 5: That we don't need to be having. If we just
• 13:08
  Speaker 5: go back to, you know, or go forward to where
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  Speaker 5: we used to be, cheap, affordable energy, we've got it there,
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  Speaker 5: we should be using it to our benefit.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, I think that's exactly right. I don't
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  Speaker 2: think anybody would disagree with it except for, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Labor and the Greens. But anyway, hey, Seb, I want
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  Speaker 2: to just go to you for a second here because
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  Speaker 2: you had a fascinating piece in The Herald Sun. Explain
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  Speaker 2: this to our viewers here about this appointment of the
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: former Melbourne Demons boss, Paul Guerra, as chair of the
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Melbourne Market Authority. Is this another jobs-for-the-mates kind of routine
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: we're seeing here?
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  Speaker 6: Well, certainly, Jess Wilson's Liberal Party think it is. I mean,
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  Speaker 6: this was an extraordinary example... of really what I was
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  Speaker 6: talking about before, that people are finding their voice here
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  Speaker 6: in Victoria. There was a really hard line, some would
• 13:54
  Speaker 6: say a dictator-like regime running this place for the last
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  Speaker 6: 12 years, and suddenly people have decided they're not going
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: to stand for that anymore. So, I mean, I want
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  Speaker 6: to take my hats off to Angie Bradbury, Margaret Burdew,
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: and also Emma Germano, who were the three board members
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: of the state agency, the Melbourne Market Authority. And when
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: they were told that a process to find a new
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: chair was was going to be basically torn up and
• 14:17
  Speaker 6: this Paul Guerra, who has led the Queen Victoria market before,
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: was going to parachute into the role. Angie Bradbury, who
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: is expecting to... be named chair, said that she would resign.
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  Speaker 6: And not only that, the other two directors, the other
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  Speaker 6: two women standing with her, decided to give up their
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: highly valued position in solidarity because they felt like this
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: process had been corrupted. So, you know, hats off to
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: them for actually paying a price, you know, sacrificing a
• 14:44
  Speaker 6: coveted role, a service role, paid role too, in the
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: name of what they think is good and right.
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  Speaker 2: Fair enough, Seb Costello. Thanks for walking us through that one,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: Colleen Harkin. Thank you, as always, for your insights. Great
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: to speak with you both. Thank you so much. All right,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: let's keep it moving here. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is facing
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: a growing revolt after analysts revealed that his trust tax reforms,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: guess what, punish small businesses more than Australia's highest earners.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: An analysis from the National Tax and Accountants Association, showed
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: that a minimum 30% tax on discretionary trusts was counterintuitive.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: And now Jim Chalmers has finally met with the Stop
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: the Ambition tax delegation in Canberra.
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  Speaker 3: He did that on Monday evening.
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  Speaker 2: I'm pleased to say that one of the members of
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: that delegation, part of that delegation was tax invest accounting
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: director Belinda Rosso. Belinda, thanks so much for joining me here.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: First of all, tell me, what was that meeting with
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: the treasurer like?
• 15:48
  Speaker 11: Well, I actually have to give it to the Treasurer.
• 15:51
  Speaker 11: He was very humble and he took the time out
• 15:54
  Speaker 11: to listen to us, albeit it took a long time
• 15:57
  Speaker 11: for them to actually meet with us. I do very
• 16:00
  Speaker 11: much thank him for sitting down and taking the time
• 16:02
  Speaker 11: to meet with us.
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  Speaker 2: But what was his general vibe, though, his general feeling
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: about small businesses? Because it seems like this budget, we
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: are still talking about this budget, five months later, that
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: never happens. And the vibe is that they really have
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: a problem with small businesses. Did he answer any of
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: that criticism?
• 16:22
  Speaker 7: He listened.
• 16:23
  Speaker 11: And I've got to say, I was actually quite shocked
• 16:26
  Speaker 11: that with all of the submissions that were put through.
• 16:29
  Speaker 11: So we had 16 days, only 16 days to put
• 16:33
  Speaker 11: these submissions through. And I don't think anyone in Treasury
• 16:36
  Speaker 11: actually read these submissions because what I presented to him
• 16:40
  Speaker 11: was what they had already been told. And they did
• 16:43
  Speaker 11: appear to be very shocked by this information. So I'm
• 16:46
  Speaker 11: wondering why they're not communicating this with the Treasurer. So
• 16:49
  Speaker 11: there's a bit of a lack of communication there. And
• 16:52
  Speaker 11: as you mentioned, it is the smaller businesses, the battlers
• 16:56
  Speaker 11: out there that are the ones that are going to
• 16:57
  Speaker 11: be copying it, because the submission actually states that this 30%
• 17:02
  Speaker 11: tax is not going to be refundable to your average
• 17:05
  Speaker 11: small business owner. So in actual fact, what they're looking
• 17:08
  Speaker 11: at is each beneficiary will be worse off by over
• 17:11
  Speaker 11: $ 9, 700 in tax per year. unrefundable tax. Now, this can't
• 17:18
  Speaker 11: be allowed to go through.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Belinda, just for our viewers who may not be,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: you know, accountants or in business, how does this work?
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: Why is this trust tax so bad for the small
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: businesses in particular? Is it just the way they structure
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: their affairs? And can you blow up this myth once
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: and for all that people who use trusts are somehow
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: these major high flyers?
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: Absolutely.
• 17:43
  Speaker 11: So when we hear in pop culture, we think trust
• 17:46
  Speaker 11: and a trust baby and we think of someone wealthy.
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: Well, that's not the case.
• 17:49
  Speaker 11: The two main reasons that small businesses actually use trust
• 17:53
  Speaker 11: is number one, for asset protection, because in small business,
• 17:57
  Speaker 11: it's scary and it can be very litigious and you
• 18:00
  Speaker 11: don't want to be losing your personal assets like your home.
• 18:03
  Speaker 11: So we need to have a structure there to protect
• 18:06
  Speaker 11: these small business owners. And number two, it gives you
• 18:08
  Speaker 11: some flexibility to when you're actually going to pay yourself.
• 18:11
  Speaker 11: That does not mean that you're avoiding tax. It just
• 18:14
  Speaker 11: means that you can distribute and then pay tax quarterly. Now,
• 18:18
  Speaker 11: what is happening is the best way to describe it is.
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: A trust is actually just a funnel. So think of
• 18:24
  Speaker 7: a funnel.
• 18:24
  Speaker 11: The income goes through and it gets distributed to the
• 18:27
  Speaker 11: beneficiaries and it doesn't get taxed there. What they're proposing
• 18:31
  Speaker 11: is that they're going to tax it at the source.
• 18:34
  Speaker 8: So tax it at the trust.
• 18:35
  Speaker 11: Now, in all of their wise thinking, they're saying, well,
• 18:38
  Speaker 11: this is 30% tax and obviously the average Aussie pays 30% tax.
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: That is a myth.
• 18:45
  Speaker 11: So that is our marginal tax rate. The average Aussie
• 18:48
  Speaker 11: earning around, you know, $ 80, 000 to $ 130, 000 pays around 20%, 21%
• 18:54
  Speaker 11: average tax. So if you're going to tax that trust
• 18:57
  Speaker 11: at 30%, then send it down to those small business owners,
• 19:01
  Speaker 11: they're going to overpay in tax and they're saying, They're saying,
• 19:05
  Speaker 11: but you can get it back when you lodge your
• 19:07
  Speaker 11: tax return. Well, they can't because unless they're earning over
• 19:10
  Speaker 11: $ 229, 000 individually, they're not going to get that money back.
• 19:12
  Speaker 11: That is nearly $ 10, 000 individually paid extra by each small
• 19:15
  Speaker 11: business owner. How does that even make sense?
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Well, and not only that, Belinda, but, you know, just
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: listening to that explanation, and thank you, because that was
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: really clear and cogent, and I think maybe a lot
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: of people will have appreciated that tonight. That other point, oh, well,
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: you know, you get it back on the tax, this
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: is a total misunderstanding, I think, the Treasury has and
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the bureaucrats have how people in the real world actually work,
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: because that's a cash flow issue.
• 19:45
  Speaker 12: Isn't it?
• 19:47
  Speaker 11: That's absolutely a cash flow issue. Now, there's... the answer
• 19:50
  Speaker 11: that we've gotten back is, well, why don't they just
• 19:52
  Speaker 11: pivot and restructure into a proprietary limited? And my answer
• 19:56
  Speaker 11: back is, why should they need to? Trusts are a
• 20:00
  Speaker 11: legal and absolutely acceptable entity as far as the ATO
• 20:04
  Speaker 11: is concerned. They're not a tax avoidance tool. Now, when
• 20:07
  Speaker 11: you restructure over, we've got figures from COSBA saying that
• 20:11
  Speaker 11: this is going to cost up to $ 8 billion in
• 20:13
  Speaker 11: advice and restructuring for small businesses to actually do this.
• 20:18
  Speaker 11: Then once they restructure into a proprietary limited, they then
• 20:22
  Speaker 11: get caught by payday super, which means that every time
• 20:26
  Speaker 11: they take money out of their business, they then have
• 20:29
  Speaker 11: to process payroll and pay superannuation. Now, small business owners
• 20:34
  Speaker 11: around the country put their employees first.
• 20:36
  Speaker 7: I have 11.
• 20:37
  Speaker 11: I always put my employees first and I will pay
• 20:39
  Speaker 11: myself last. And the last thing we're thinking about is
• 20:42
  Speaker 11: processing our own payroll and our super. It is just
• 20:46
  Speaker 11: another compliance issue and a cash flow burden for small businesses.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Belinda, thank you so much.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: That's a great explanation of just one little facet of
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: everything small business has to face to stay in business.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable. Thank you so much for what you've done.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Thanks for being the treasurer and for telling us about
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: Stop the Ambition Tax. Belinda Razo, thank you for your time.
• 21:07
  Speaker 7: Thank you very much.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: And coming up after the break, lefties losing it, plus
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Kathy Hochul, governor of New York. She takes the crown
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: for the worst governor in the United States. You slay, queen.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Kosha Gada has more on that next. And now it's
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: time for Lefties Losing It. And guess what? The lefties
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: really are losing it tonight. Tell you what, you're not
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: going to want to miss this. But first up, she's
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: back and she's not shutting up. So let's kick off
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: by enjoying a little bit more of the wit and
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: wisdom and word salad of Kamala Harris.
• 21:48
  Speaker 13: I mean, if you have the chance in whatever your,
• 21:52
  Speaker 13: you know, your circle of life to just, you know,
• 21:57
  Speaker 13: talk to like a eight-year-old. That's one of the best things,
• 22:03
  Speaker 13: you know? Someone who just has that twinkle. It hasn't been,
• 22:07
  Speaker 13: you know, they have the twinkle, they.
• 22:10
  Speaker 14: Believe, and.
• 22:12
  Speaker 13: They're curious and, oh, that gives me joy. Just because,
• 22:16
  Speaker 13: you know, there is something, I think, about looking at
• 22:21
  Speaker 13: children to remind us of our natural nature. who we actually,
• 22:27
  Speaker 13: it is our nature. There is something about that.
• 22:31
  Speaker 14: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm sure we all understood that. And if you did,
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: please let us know. Answers on a postcard. But anyway,
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: you do have to wonder who would ever have voted
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: for someone like that, or maybe who will vote for
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: them in the future. And then you realize that the
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: answer to that is, well, It would have to be
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: the products of America's education system. Listen to these geniuses
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: talk about socialism.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: Socialism doesn't mean, like, anti-capitalism. Based off what I learned
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: in my gov class, it's basically like spending more money
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: on helping society.
• 23:04
  Speaker 10: Socialism to me is a concept in politics where everybody
• 23:08
  Speaker 10: gets a little bit of everything. Everybody benefits and everybody
• 23:12
  Speaker 10: is really taking care of kind of that social net
• 23:17
  Speaker 10: that you see in other types of politics. I think
• 23:21
  Speaker 10: a lot of people get the economic system of socialism
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: confused with the government system of communism.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, socialism where you get a little bit of everything,
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: kind of like going to the buffet table.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: But you know what?
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: It is almost as bad in Australia, where you can
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: go to school and make it all the way through
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: an education system, rise to the rank of sex discrimination
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: commissioner and still never learned how breastfeeding works.
• 23:50
  Speaker 15: AA of the Sex Discrimination Act specifically refers to discrimination
• 23:54
  Speaker 15: against a woman on the grounds of breastfeeding. The explanatory
• 23:59
  Speaker 15: memorandum introducing those protections stated they were intended to apply
• 24:04
  Speaker 15: to women who breastfeed. Does the Commission interpret Section 7AA
• 24:08
  Speaker 15: as providing breastfeeding discrimination protections to a biological male who
• 24:13
  Speaker 15: identifies as a woman and induces lactation?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, Senator.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Back to school. You've failed biology. But back to America
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: now for a moment. Let's check this out as this lady,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: while we're talking about socialism and communism, she's here to
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: define fascism.
• 24:35
  Speaker 16: And he's a fascist.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Can you define fascism for me?
• 24:38
  Speaker 16: Oh, absolutely. I can define fascism for you.
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: What is fascism?
• 24:42
  Speaker 16: So fascism is when you believe that there's one way
• 24:46
  Speaker 16: of doing things. There's not other ways to bring into
• 24:51
  Speaker 16: it that... It's much like a dictatorship that you have
• 24:57
  Speaker 16: the one person and he is like, I don't want
• 25:00
  Speaker 16: to say king because I don't believe that king and whatever,
• 25:04
  Speaker 16: but yeah.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know about you, but you know what
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: sounds pretty fascist to me? Putting the children of your
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: political opponents on trial for any unspecified crime just because, well,
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: of their last name. Great idea here from Jennifer Welch.
• 25:22
  Speaker 12: I'm just going to say it.
• 25:22
  Speaker 13: I want.
• 25:24
  Speaker 12: Barron, Jared, I'm going to throw Tiffany in, of course.
• 25:29
  Speaker 17: Dumb and dumber.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Tiffany, oh gosh, even Tiffany.
• 25:31
  Speaker 7: I want them all investigated.
• 25:33
  Speaker 12: Every single one of them investigated. Now, I don't want,
• 25:38
  Speaker 12: it's not like I have a rabid, like lock them
• 25:40
  Speaker 12: up mentality, but I want them to.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Lock some of them up, maybe.
• 25:46
  Speaker 12: I want them to have trials. And I want, if
• 25:49
  Speaker 12: they stole money or they were improper business dealings, all
• 25:53
  Speaker 12: of their money taken away.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: Mmm, glad they're not politicizing the justice system there, but
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: there is an awful lot of this sort of thinking
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: going on. For example, here's Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: who says he's going to impeach U.S. Secretary of War
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: Pete Hegseth. Not on any particular charge, just, you know,
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: the vibe of the thing.
• 26:13
  Speaker 16: Because there's an impeachment resolution that's going to come up, like,
• 26:16
  Speaker 16: in the immediate days after you.
• 26:18
  Speaker 8: Guys get back from the elections.
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: How are you thinking about that?
• 26:22
  Speaker 17: Well, we haven't had an opportunity, actually, to talk about
• 26:24
  Speaker 17: it because it was short-circuited when Speaker Johnson and House
• 26:28
  Speaker 17: Republicans literally ran out of town so that they didn't
• 26:32
  Speaker 17: have to take up that resolution that was brought by
• 26:36
  Speaker 17: a Republican member from Kentucky.
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: But are you inclined to support it?
• 26:41
  Speaker 17: What I'm inclined to do is to act consistently with
• 26:45
  Speaker 17: what I've said relative to Pete Hegseth from the very beginning.
• 26:49
  Speaker 17: I call for Pete Hegseth to be fired.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Man, those Democrats, if they ever get back into power,
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: watch out. Meanwhile, here's Florida Democrat and Senate hopeful Angie Nixon.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: And she's been asked if she had any thoughts on whether,
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: and this should be a real layup question here, is Cuba,
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: you know, a dictatorship.
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: Do you consider that Cuba is a dictatorship? You know,
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: that is what people have told me. I have never
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: been to Cuba.
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I bet you haven't.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: But meanwhile, have you also noticed that the left is
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: completely obsessed with Elon Musk? It's like an Ayn Rand
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: novel out there. Check out Robert Reich, former Secretary of
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: Labor turned professor and activist, talking about Musk's brilliant Starling service.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: We've got to defund Musk. And when I say defund Musk, 75%
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: of his wealth is dependent on taxpayers who are buying
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Starlink systems for the Department of Defense. Defund Musk. I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: mean this. If we have a Democratic administration and the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Democrats ought to be starting this, not just with oversight hearings,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: but also starting laying the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink and SpaceX.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Nationalize it. It should be a public corporation.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: Wow, can you imagine how that would go? Nationalizing a huge,
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: successful business.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I don't know, Robert. That sounds a little bit like communism.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: All right, let's keep it moving here because progressive left-wing
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: California Governor Gavin Newsom has made a bit of a
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: statement here that could prove damaging to the Democrats.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Speaking to an.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: Undercover reporter while campaigning in New Hampshire, California Governor Newsom
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: admitted that the Democrat Socialists of America, the so-called DSA,
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: will be a dominant movement in the party.
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: Have a listen to this.
• 28:45
  Speaker 9: I was wondering, because I'm a younger voter, and a
• 28:48
  Speaker 9: lot of us, we want to see the Democratic Party
• 28:51
  Speaker 9: move forward.
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: We don't want more Kamala Harris. We want more, I guess,
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: Democratic socialist politics.
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: Where do you see, I guess, the.
• 28:58
  Speaker 16: Democratic Party going?
• 28:59
  Speaker 14: I think it's... No one is arguing to manage the
• 29:04
  Speaker 14: status quo or fail more efficiently.
• 29:06
  Speaker 10: So I think that the DSA, the energy and the
• 29:12
  Speaker 10: desire and demand for bold change, non-incremental change, is very.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: Much going to be dominant.
• 29:18
  Speaker 17: I mean, that's going to be mainstream democratically.
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: Absolutely.
• 29:21
  Speaker 15: No question in my mind.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: You can't play in the margins anymore.
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: The whole system's broken.
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: It's completely unbalanced.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: And we can't manage the decline.
• 29:33
  Speaker 10: We have to completely reimagine it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: Joining me now to discuss this and a whole lot
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: more is News24.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Com.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: Contributor Kosha Gadda. Kosha, welcome to the program. Great to
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: see you again. Tell us about what we might take
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: from this. Was this him trying to get out in
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: front of this movement? Because there are some questions about
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: just how powerful it is, given that some of their
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: nominees for... primary nominees to run governorships and Senate races
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: and House races, a lot of them didn't perform as
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: well as they should have a couple of months ago.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: So what do you reckon?
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: That is true. They didn't.
• 30:09
  Speaker 9: But I think he did say the quiet part out loud.
• 30:13
  Speaker 7: Even though that was an undercover journalist.
• 30:14
  Speaker 9: He obviously was speaking at some sort of campaign or
• 30:17
  Speaker 9: small event. And I also think Gavin Newsom is all
• 30:21
  Speaker 9: about political expediency.
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: So we shouldn't discount that.
• 30:24
  Speaker 9: He will always say what he thinks the person he's
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: speaking to or the audience he's speaking to wants to hear.
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: And the way that young lady, the undercover.
• 30:32
  Speaker 9: Journalist, phrased the question, he knew what he was going
• 30:35
  Speaker 9: to say and he said it. But I also do
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: think the DSA, though in some cases they didn't perform
• 30:40
  Speaker 9: very well and others, you know, they have. And you
• 30:42
  Speaker 9: look at Mamdani, you look at all the people Mamdani
• 30:45
  Speaker 9: has endorsed in New York. Certainly it's Deep Blue, but
• 30:48
  Speaker 9: they all, the far left DSA or DSA-aligned people are winning.
• 30:52
  Speaker 9: You have Al-Saeed in Michigan, you have who's sort of
• 30:54
  Speaker 9: adjacent to that group, but certainly doesn't disavow it, is
• 30:58
  Speaker 9: very happy to be associated with it. And then you
• 31:00
  Speaker 9: had former President Obama campaigning for him just the other day.
• 31:03
  Speaker 9: So I think that cat is out of the bag
• 31:05
  Speaker 9: and everyone can see the DSA or DSA affiliated people
• 31:09
  Speaker 9: is where the momentum and energy is, as Gavin Newsom said,
• 31:13
  Speaker 9: and he will do what he needs to do to
• 31:15
  Speaker 9: ride that wave.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think you're right. I mean, the DSA.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: We've spoken about this a lot. I've spoken a lot
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: about it on this network. It does seem to be
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: where the center of gravity is moving, particularly with younger Democrats,
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: who I think many of them are kind of, you know,
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: well-educated but downwardly mobile and really just kind of want
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: to burn things down. But where does this leave Gavin Newsom? Because,
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: you know, he's a real shapeshifter, right? You know, he
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: can go out and speak, as you suggested, to different
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: audiences and tell them different things. Does the rise of
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: the DSA hurt or hinder the his potential nomination in 2028,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: because we've all known that he's always wanted to run.
• 31:55
  Speaker 9: He is a shapeshifter, but I think this will be
• 31:58
  Speaker 9: a tough shape to shift, because ultimately he's a straight
• 32:01
  Speaker 9: white male. That has been anathema to the Democrat Party.
• 32:04
  Speaker 9: We know it, he knows it, and that is something
• 32:07
  Speaker 9: that's going to be very tough for him to shapeshift
• 32:08
  Speaker 9: out of. But in terms of the words that he
• 32:10
  Speaker 9: speaks and the people he aligns himself to and you know,
• 32:14
  Speaker 9: the podcasts he goes on and all the rest of it,
• 32:16
  Speaker 9: I think he will very freely associate himself with those folks.
• 32:20
  Speaker 9: When he needs to turn around and speak to the
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: more moderates in the Democrat Party, he'll say what he
• 32:24
  Speaker 9: needs to say. But I do see him running with
• 32:27
  Speaker 9: the wind, with the stream and not against it. And
• 32:30
  Speaker 9: this is where the wind is for that party. So
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: I think he's going to try his best to fit
• 32:35
  Speaker 9: in and sort of become a chameleon into that group.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, look, I think that is correct.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: But, I mean, do you think, though, that with those ambitions,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: do you think that Gavin Newsom has the chance of
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: being nominated, given, as you say, he is the trifecta
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: of evil, straight, white, male?
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: He is.
• 32:54
  Speaker 9: Look, it's tricky, and we know that a week is
• 32:56
  Speaker 9: a lifetime in politics, and we're just starting 2028, but
• 32:58
  Speaker 9: I think it's going to be tough.
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: It's going to be tough.
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: We don't know who else is on the scene, but
• 33:02
  Speaker 9: there are people that are up-and-comers, like we saw Mamdani
• 33:05
  Speaker 9: and El Said came out of nowhere and won handily.
• 33:08
  Speaker 9: They're not running this time, but people like that, there
• 33:11
  Speaker 9: could be somebody that we're not even that focused on
• 33:12
  Speaker 9: who emerges, and there are certainly other names like AOC
• 33:16
  Speaker 9: and the rest of them that are going to give
• 33:18
  Speaker 9: him a run for his money. So I wouldn't say
• 33:20
  Speaker 9: that the odds are in his favor, but... traditional conservative,
• 33:24
  Speaker 9: conventional wisdom thinks that he's certainly probably in the top
• 33:26
  Speaker 9: two or three.
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: I think I've sort of watched his stock slide lately,
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: but we'll see. We'll keep talking about this. Hey, let's
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: go to the other side of the country from California.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Let's go to New York State, where New York State
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Governor Kathy Hochul was ranked the worst state leader in
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: the U.S. for protecting constituents' freedom by the libertarian Cato.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: They looked freedoms across the various states and said that
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: Hochul got an F. Tell us more about this.
• 33:57
  Speaker 9: Yes, she is 50, ranking 50 out of the 50
• 34:00
  Speaker 9: states in the union, the last place. But the thing is,
• 34:03
  Speaker 9: I don't think freedom is the currency she's trading in.
• 34:06
  Speaker 9: So she doesn't care. Couldn't care less about the Cato
• 34:08
  Speaker 9: Institute or their freedom index. That said, she's not exactly
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: one of the top tier talents on the bench in
• 34:15
  Speaker 9: the Democrat Party. We only know about her and we're
• 34:17
  Speaker 9: only talking about her because of Cuomo and everything he
• 34:20
  Speaker 9: did and his terrible behavior and the Me Too allegations
• 34:23
  Speaker 9: that took him out. not to mention the way he
• 34:25
  Speaker 9: handled COVID and putting the infected people in nursing homes
• 34:29
  Speaker 9: and all of that. So that was his downfall, which
• 34:31
  Speaker 9: paved the way for a very mediocre candidate who happened
• 34:35
  Speaker 9: to be waiting in the wings, Kathy Hochul. And now
• 34:37
  Speaker 9: she's blessed with the power of incumbency in that deep, deep,
• 34:41
  Speaker 9: deep blue state of New York where once she's in,
• 34:44
  Speaker 9: as long as she's not term limited, she unfortunately has
• 34:48
  Speaker 9: a name ID and that's why we have been stuck
• 34:50
  Speaker 9: with her, New Yorkers have been stuck with her. I
• 34:52
  Speaker 9: know you and I are both former New Yorkers. I
• 34:54
  Speaker 9: guess thankfully we're not under her reign now.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: Well, no, we're not, but you do always have some
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: hope that Long Island and upstate kind of comes good
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: for the side of sanity there. Just not this time around. Hey,
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: just move on to some fun stuff here. Donald Trump
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: has fired back at Barack Obama's jab about his White
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: House decor. Here's a little reminder of what Obama said.
• 35:15
  Speaker 17: I don't know if you've noticed, but he seems very
• 35:20
  Speaker 17: focused on home renovations.
• 35:22
  Speaker 3: What's up with the gold? Everything, more gold. He's got the.
• 35:29
  Speaker 13: White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a cheesecake factory.
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, how they clapped. But here was the president's response.
• 35:38
  Speaker 14: I've taken care of the White House. I fixed it
• 35:41
  Speaker 14: with the finest artisans in the world. Guys like Obama,
• 35:46
  Speaker 14: they would pass the front door. They'd see the broken masonry.
• 35:50
  Speaker 14: They'd see the broken, the beautiful pilasters that were all broken.
• 35:56
  Speaker 14: For years they were broken, and he wouldn't notice because
• 35:58
  Speaker 14: he doesn't notice that. He doesn't notice dirt and filth.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good hit back there. But I think
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: there's also more to that, Kosha, which is that, you know,
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: Obama seemed to be, this is a guy who's made
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: himself spectacularly rich out of politics, almost sneering at, you know,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: this beloved kind of restaurant chain. Do you think that
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: there's a bit of that evidence of sort of Democrat
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: snobbery in there?
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
• 36:22
  Speaker 9: The you didn't build that line that he did back
• 36:24
  Speaker 9: in 08 comes to mind. Meanwhile, as you mentioned, he
• 36:28
  Speaker 9: is fabulously wealthy now thanks to being able to monetize
• 36:32
  Speaker 9: the platform of the presidency once you leave. So yes,
• 36:35
  Speaker 9: I think there's a little bit of that. I also
• 36:36
  Speaker 9: don't think the Saddam Hussein cheesecake thing kind of landed
• 36:39
  Speaker 9: anyway right now.
• 36:41
  Speaker 3: But we're talking about it.
• 36:42
  Speaker 7: The fundamentals. Yeah, we are. That's true. It felt sort
• 36:46
  Speaker 7: of scripted to me.
• 36:47
  Speaker 9: And to me, Obama, I know a lot of people
• 36:48
  Speaker 9: think he's this great orator, but he always felt like
• 36:50
  Speaker 9: very professorial. And when he tries to do these humorous jabs,
• 36:53
  Speaker 9: they don't quite fit with his style. But you're right,
• 36:56
  Speaker 9: we are talking about it. And it did get comment
• 36:58
  Speaker 9: from Trump. And it did needle him because Trump does
• 37:01
  Speaker 9: pride himself as the builder and somebody who understands design
• 37:04
  Speaker 9: and renovations. And he's aware that a lot of people
• 37:06
  Speaker 9: have kind of thought at times that his style is
• 37:09
  Speaker 9: a bit tacky or he really loves the gold. So
• 37:10
  Speaker 9: it probably needled him a little bit. And in that way,
• 37:13
  Speaker 9: I guess President Obama achieved his purpose.
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I guess that's it, Ed. We are talking
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: about it, so I don't know. We'll see. But I'm
• 37:19
  Speaker 3: just thinking about it. Backfired on Obama.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: Hey, on another Democrat here, the Justice Department has charged
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: former FBI Director James Comey with two counts of leaking
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: information related to national defense.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: This is the third time.
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: The Trump administration has filed criminal charges against Comey. The
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: allegations are the former director leaked the information in 2016.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: and conspired with unnamed persons in the press to get
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: this out to the national news, whatever this information was. Kosha,
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: we all know Comey played a very hard game against Trump,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: but we also know that he's always said, hey, no
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: one is above the law. Is that going to come
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: back and bite him here?
• 38:02
  Speaker 9: The Trump team is certainly hoping that the third time
• 38:04
  Speaker 9: will be the charm. It is very, very hard to
• 38:07
  Speaker 9: bring charges, certainly to Comey, because it's all in a D.C.
• 38:10
  Speaker 7: Jurisdiction.
• 38:11
  Speaker 9: And anybody who still believes justice and juries and judges
• 38:15
  Speaker 9: are apolitical, I think, has not been paying attention for
• 38:19
  Speaker 9: the last many years. That is not true. And the
• 38:21
  Speaker 9: political winds do shape the way justice is dispensed. And
• 38:25
  Speaker 9: that is where he has sort of the protection, Comey does,
• 38:27
  Speaker 9: of D.C. However, you never know, and depending on what
• 38:32
  Speaker 9: the concreteness of the charges are this time, and grand
• 38:36
  Speaker 9: juries are impaneled and all the rest of it, even
• 38:38
  Speaker 9: if full accountability isn't brought, It's forcing him to lawyer up.
• 38:42
  Speaker 9: It is obviously a point of stress for him. And
• 38:44
  Speaker 9: people are demanding accountability. Right now, Team Trump is, I think,
• 38:48
  Speaker 9: zero for four. They've tried three times. This is the
• 38:50
  Speaker 9: third time with Comey. Haven't had luck. They tried Letitia James.
• 38:54
  Speaker 9: Haven't had luck with her mortgage fraud.
• 38:56
  Speaker 7: They've tried Fauci. Nothing.
• 38:58
  Speaker 9: And then, of course, the big fish is Ilhan Omar,
• 39:00
  Speaker 9: which maybe that's one that's sinking in. Comey, I have
• 39:03
  Speaker 9: a feeling like an octopus is going to slip his
• 39:05
  Speaker 9: way out of this. But he's in the crosshairs for now.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: But it is interesting, though, because it's like we're suddenly
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: starting to see a whole bunch of stuff come down.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: You know, the Comey indictment, Ilhan Omar, everything that we've
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: been talking about around that for the last couple of weeks.
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: There were a couple of FBI agents who've been in
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: hot water now this week over their role in leaking
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: around the Hunter Biden laptop. Does it feel to you,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: I'm just wondering, like, there's kind of a big... sort
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: of square up happening at the moment. It feels a
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: bit like that last baptism scene in Godfather II. Are
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: all of these timed so that when the 2028 election
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: is underway, you've got all these, you know, minds going
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: off on the Democrat side of politics?
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: I'm sure that's part of it because politics is everywhere always.
• 39:50
  Speaker 9: Some of it is just how slow the government machine
• 39:53
  Speaker 9: is and how long it's taking for these things to
• 39:56
  Speaker 9: happen and they have to run their course through the
• 39:58
  Speaker 9: court system. And I do think that a lot of
• 40:00
  Speaker 9: people on the other side, the judges who issue their
• 40:02
  Speaker 9: injunctions and everything else, are waiting to run out the
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: clock on Trump.
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: And the Trump administration. So that's part of it, too.
• 40:08
  Speaker 9: But look, I think he is aware, and he must
• 40:11
  Speaker 9: be aware, President Trump, that the base has been crying
• 40:13
  Speaker 9: out for more focus on domestic issues, including accountability, which
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: is a big, big theme after he came back from
• 40:20
  Speaker 9: behind after everything that they did to him and won.
• 40:23
  Speaker 9: And people have felt a little bit lackluster that he's
• 40:26
  Speaker 9: been distracted with foreign affairs and not focusing on this stuff.
• 40:28
  Speaker 9: So maybe he is trying to bring that home in
• 40:30
  Speaker 9: the lead-up to the midterms.
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: Well, let's just see the midterms end that all-important 2028
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: presidential election. Koshia Ghada, thank you so much for your time.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: Always great fun to chat.
• 40:40
  Speaker 7: Always a pleasure.
• 40:41
  Speaker 9: Thank you.
• 40:42
  Speaker 3: All right, don't go anywhere.
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: After the break, Meghan Markle's new MasterChef rolled down under.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: Is it going to be delicious? Deedee Dunleavy will tell us.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Get a break.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: MUSIC Welcome back to the program. James Morrow filling in
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: here for Rita Panahy. And I'll tell you what, Martha
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: Stewart wannabe Megan Markle is heading back down under, this
• 41:07
  Speaker 2: time to co-host the reboot of Network 10. Network 10,
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: is that still around? Anyway, Network 10's Junior MasterChef Australia.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Megan is no stranger to the Australian MasterChef kitchen, having
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: made an appearance on the show earlier this year. But
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: now she's stepping into a much bigger role. Joining me
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: now to discuss this and more is broadcaster Dede Dunleavy. Dede,
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: was work that hard to find in the UK that
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: she has to come all the way down here to
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: Australia to judge a kids cooking competition?
• 41:40
  Speaker 8: Apparently so. She's not getting a lot of love in
• 41:42
  Speaker 8: the UK, is she? So she has to come to
• 41:44
  Speaker 8: where she got her last sugar hit, which was here.
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: So to speak.
• 41:48
  Speaker 8: Look, James, you well know I'm no great fan of
• 41:50
  Speaker 8: Meghan Markle, but.
• 41:51
  Speaker 18: She was a ratings hit for 10 and for MasterChef.
• 41:56
  Speaker 18: Whether that audience was hate watching or whether they were
• 41:59
  Speaker 18: genuine fans and whether they'll stick around, that's yet to
• 42:01
  Speaker 18: be seen. And that really is a problem that Junior
• 42:04
  Speaker 18: MasterChef had. So over the 10 years that it aired,
• 42:07
  Speaker 18: it lost 75% of its audience because pretty much the
• 42:10
  Speaker 18: novelty wore off once you've seen kids cooking. then you've
• 42:13
  Speaker 18: seen that and they lost all the bulk of their
• 42:16
  Speaker 18: audience with that. Megan needs the exposure that the show
• 42:20
  Speaker 18: can give to her and her lifestyle brand, but I
• 42:22
  Speaker 18: feel like the kids are being let down because you
• 42:25
  Speaker 18: would have to assume if they're going on that show
• 42:26
  Speaker 18: that they're looking at a career in the culinary industry,
• 42:29
  Speaker 18: then they deserve guidance and advice from someone who actually
• 42:32
  Speaker 18: knows what they're talking about, not somebody with no discernible skills.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look, as I said, I mentioned Martha Stewart
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: in the intro here and I'd much rather, you know,
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: See kids having to work with Martha Stewart. I think
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: that'd be much more fascinating on air. But how is
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: this going to work here? You know, Australia's a bit
• 42:47
  Speaker 2: of a schlep from wherever they are right now. How
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: is this going to work with Harry and the kids?
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: God help me. Could we have a whole sort of
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: celebrity folder all around their visit as well? I mean,
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: I could just see the publicity of three or four
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: people lining the streets for them.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: It could be amazing.
• 43:07
  Speaker 18: Well, it could be impossible to manage because they don't
• 43:09
  Speaker 18: want anyone to see the children's faces. Look, there's been
• 43:12
  Speaker 18: no word yet, but I'd be surprised if Harry and
• 43:14
  Speaker 18: the children do come and I'd feel sorry for the
• 43:16
  Speaker 18: children if they're yanked from another country and plonked into
• 43:19
  Speaker 18: another country again.
• 43:20
  Speaker 8: This must be so confusing for them.
• 43:23
  Speaker 18: I just hope they don't do another cringey call like
• 43:26
  Speaker 18: they did when Meghan appeared on.
• 43:27
  Speaker 8: MasterChef and, oh, look, Harry's called in. It was just cringeworthy.
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, you know, and I think I can
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: already see this happening again because, you know, I don't
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: think there's any new ideas floating around there. Hey, just
• 43:40
  Speaker 2: staying on that family, though, this is a bit more
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: grim here because there are serious and deeply disturbing allegations,
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: and we stress they're just allegations, surrounding Meghan Markle's father,
• 43:51
  Speaker 2: Thomas Markle Sr., come to light facing a lot of
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: scrutiny in the Philippines with authorities reportedly investigating material allegedly
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: found in his home. And a Philippine minister has reportedly
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: made an alarming statement about what that material could suggest,
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: with The Sun publishing further claims attributed to Thomas's first wife, Rosalyn. Now,
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: in a letter she reportedly sent to police in 2019.
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: She alleged that Thomas made a disturbing comment about traveling
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: to the Far East as 12-year-olds are legal there. That's
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: a very creepy thing to hear, even as an allegation.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: They're extremely serious. And, you know, again, it's all just
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: being reported. But where does this go? This is a
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: real blow.
• 44:38
  Speaker 3: For this family.
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: And one of the things I've been hearing for the
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: first time is sympathy for Meghan Markle about having to
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: deal with this.
• 44:47
  Speaker 18: Look, there's still so many questions about who knew what
• 44:51
  Speaker 18: and what their role is in how it unfolded, because
• 44:54
  Speaker 18: the fact remains that if there is some truth to
• 44:57
  Speaker 18: these allegations, this is at least eight years that children
• 45:01
  Speaker 18: have been in a dangerous position. Again, we should stress
• 45:05
  Speaker 18: that Thomas Markle Senior denies these allegations.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: Of course.
• 45:09
  Speaker 8: There's so many questions.
• 45:10
  Speaker 18: He concerns me because he's already been caught out in
• 45:12
  Speaker 18: a lie. In an interview he did with National Enquirer
• 45:14
  Speaker 18: back in 2018, he said that he had never paid
• 45:18
  Speaker 18: for sex and yet now he is admitting that he
• 45:20
  Speaker 18: has paid for prostitutes, but he's made a point of
• 45:22
  Speaker 18: underlining that he never paid for sex with underage women.
• 45:31
  Speaker 18: You mentioned the first wife there who first raised these allegations.
• 45:34
  Speaker 18: I would be very interested to know what Doria Ragland,
• 45:37
  Speaker 18: Megan's mother, knows or heard or observed during her teen
• 45:41
  Speaker 18: years or so that she was married. to Thomas Markle.
• 45:44
  Speaker 18: And I also have questions about why we never heard
• 45:47
  Speaker 18: anything from Meghan. You know, back when she did the
• 45:48
  Speaker 18: Oprah interview where she had plenty of criticism for Harry's family,
• 45:53
  Speaker 18: there was never a word about this possible indiscretion or
• 45:57
  Speaker 18: that's probably far too light a word to use in
• 45:59
  Speaker 18: her own family. And also in the documentary, she portrayed
• 46:02
  Speaker 18: herself as a daddy's girl. Did she do that knowing
• 46:06
  Speaker 18: that these allegations had been made? If we believe that
• 46:09
  Speaker 18: she knew about this back in 2018, about the allegations,
• 46:13
  Speaker 18: then why was she putting forward this different image of
• 46:15
  Speaker 18: everything being.
• 46:16
  Speaker 8: Sweet and lovely? There's a lot still to find out, James.
• 46:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it just sounds all very sort of messy
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: and icky even to talk about, frankly. But, hey, let's
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: talk about something a little more fun here. Three-part documentary
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: on Friends star Matthew Perry. Who knew there was going
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: to be so much material on that guy? Set to
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: be released this week on Netflix, titled The One About
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: Matthew Perry, in line with the naming convention of Friends episodes.
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: The irony, though, is none of the Friends stars want
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: anything to do with the series, all declining interviews with
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: the filmmakers.
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: How come?
• 46:48
  Speaker 8: Well, I don't think it's as sinister as it appears.
• 46:51
  Speaker 3: Oh, good.
• 46:52
  Speaker 18: Well, yeah, we, you know, the viewer, we know Matthew
• 46:56
  Speaker 18: Perry as Chandler Bing on Friends and his co-stars in
• 47:00
  Speaker 18: our eyes are his friends. But in real life, yes,
• 47:04
  Speaker 18: they were his friends, but they're not his family and
• 47:06
  Speaker 18: his genuine, you know, his childhood friends who he grew
• 47:08
  Speaker 18: up with who, I understand he had relationships with people
• 47:11
  Speaker 18: from way back in his life. So in real life
• 47:15
  Speaker 18: the cast of the show went to his funeral. Apparently
• 47:19
  Speaker 18: they held hands around his casket and they cried and
• 47:22
  Speaker 18: they said their farewells there. So I think what's happened
• 47:25
  Speaker 18: here is they were invited to take part. They all declined.
• 47:28
  Speaker 18: I think they probably all made that agreement together. And
• 47:31
  Speaker 18: they've left it to friends and family to tell his story.
• 47:34
  Speaker 18: And there is more of a story to tell about
• 47:36
  Speaker 18: him because Matthew Perry is He.
• 47:38
  Speaker 8: Really struggled with his addiction.
• 47:40
  Speaker 18: He thought that fame would be the solution. The fame
• 47:43
  Speaker 18: wasn't the solution. His sister reveals in the documentary he
• 47:47
  Speaker 18: spent over $ 7 million trying to achieve sobriety. And as
• 47:51
  Speaker 18: we know, you know, that just didn't happen in the end.
• 47:54
  Speaker 18: So I think what they're doing and I think what
• 47:56
  Speaker 18: the stars of Friends are doing is letting the family
• 47:58
  Speaker 18: tell that story because that's what Matthew Perry wanted to
• 48:01
  Speaker 18: get out as his message.
• 48:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, indeed. What's up?
• 48:05
  Speaker 2: It's kind of touching in that sort of way, I suppose,
• 48:07
  Speaker 2: after that tragedy. But finally, just talk about comedians David
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: Spade and Dana Carvey. They have called out Hollywood for
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: their nauseating focus on race and gender. Spade arguing the
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: industry should stop separating us for highlighting distinctions between us.
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: For example, first black director win, that sort of thing. Didi,
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: I can't help but agree. I haven't heard from these
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: guys for a while, but I like what they're selling.
• 48:32
  Speaker 18: Yeah, well, they're talking a lot of sense and they're
• 48:35
  Speaker 18: both experienced performers. They know that if you want to
• 48:38
  Speaker 18: land a punchline, that you don't want to give the audience.
• 48:40
  Speaker 8: A lecture as well. And people are sick to death
• 48:42
  Speaker 8: of that. And it just doesn't make sense.
• 48:44
  Speaker 18: Hollywood keeps telling us everyone's equal. And yet they're very
• 48:47
  Speaker 18: quick to point out somebody's difference, you know, their colour
• 48:50
  Speaker 18: or the fact that they're female. They don't tell us, oh,
• 48:53
  Speaker 18: it was a male director. Why do they feel the
• 48:55
  Speaker 18: need to tell us that a female directed the episode?
• 48:58
  Speaker 18: That's the weirdest thing that's ever happened.
• 49:00
  Speaker 3: Great point.
• 49:00
  Speaker 18: And when awards are handed out, why point those things out?
• 49:03
  Speaker 18: As though, you know, I wouldn't want that to have
• 49:05
  Speaker 18: an asterisk next to it. Oh, you were special because
• 49:08
  Speaker 18: of this. Just judge people on their talent.
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: Hear, hear.
• 49:12
  Speaker 2: DeeDee Dunleavy, thank you so much for your time. Thank
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: you so much for that. We'll chat again soon. And
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: thank you for spending some of your evening with me.
• 49:18
  Speaker 2: Stick around because up next... is Late Edition.